Study: Drinking alcohol may be the secret to happy marriage

According to a new study, drinking alcohol leads to happier marriage. (KTRK)

KTRK

Thursday, August 04, 2016

Sharing a good bottle of wine over dinner is an event many of us cherish in life, but now there is evidence it may actually help your marriage. A new study found that older married couples who have similar drinking habits tend to be happier than couples where only one partner drinks.

The study, which is published in The Journals of Gerontology, questioned more than 2,700 couples over 10 years. The couples, who were at least 50 years old, were married an average of 33 years, and for about two-thirds of the participants, it was their first marriage.

The lead author said what is significant is not how much the couples drink, but whether they both drink or not. Overall, couples had better marriages if both partners drank alcohol or if both partners abstained.

The study also had some sobering results: about 20 percent of men and 6 percent of women had significant drinking problems.